Ajax armoured vehicle has turned a corner, according to UK MoD

An Ajax Ares armoured personnel carrier on the Bovington training range during a visit by Wallace on 22 February. (Ben Birchall – Pool/Getty Images)

The Ajax armoured vehicle programme has turned a corner, according to senior UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials. The Chief of the General Staff of the British Army General Patrick Sanders tweeted on 25 February, “The Ajax programme has turned a corner. The vehicles' world-leading find-and-kill capabilities will be transformational for the army's fleet.” UK media reported the same day that Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, visiting Bovington on 22 February to witness Ajax trials, also spoke of Ajax “turning the corner”.

Janes understands that work is under way to reset the programme, with a new timetable to be agreed on the introduction of Ajax vehicles into operational service with the British Army.

General Dynamics Land Systems-UK (GDLS-UK) has a GBP5.5 billion (USD6.7 billion) contract to design, build, and support 589 vehicles for the British Army. Technical problems caused Ajax's planned initial operational capability (IOC) date in 2017 to be delayed to July 2020 and then June 2021, with no new date having been set by the MoD because of concerns about excessive noise and vibration levels, the UK's National Audit Office (NAO) said in a statement in March 2022.

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